I compiled my C source code using clang -g hello_word.c -o hello_world (it's just a simple C 'Hello, World!' program), and then I run gdb -q hello_world, and here's the session: Chens-MacBook-Pro:C chenjian$ gdb -q hello_world I installed it using Homebrew ( brew install gdb), and everything worked fine. So I installed GDB (The GNU Debugger) for following among a book I am currently reading ('Hacking: The Art of Exploitation'), which only explains how to use GDB, so I can't use LLDB.